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Mississippi spillway opened to avert New Orleans flood

SMALL towns, farmland and wildlife refuges have been sacrificed in an attempt to save New Orleans and Baton Rouge from the massive flood of water that is rolling down the Mississippi river.

Heavy rain and snowmelt are responsible for weeks of devastating floods in southern US. The water is predicted to take another couple weeks to reach the Gulf of Mexico.

In a bid to avoid massive flooding in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, on 17 May the US Army Corps of Engineers decided for the first time since 1973 to open part of the Morganza Spillway , a huge flood-control …